The Neutral Realist and The Faithful Optimist
This is the tenth tool in the mindset tool kit…
What is it?
This is a philosophical tool inviting you to explore different perspectives on how events may unfold and provides you with the opportunity to discover your default perspective for viewing this “unfolding of the world”.
Key to this is knowing that the life we live through our perception is merely just a game.
It might not feel like a game at certain times, but to be clear the game I am talking about could be referred to balancing on a wheel…
The aim of the game is to balance on top of a wheel that is spinning towards us. The wheel represents experience of the present moment. If we grab hold of the present moment, the wheel will spin and throw us off. If we lean forwards to see what is coming, or lean backwards to reflect on what has been, we will also lose our balance and fall off.
So, the winning strategy here is to be anchored yet non-attached to the present moment by being accepting of both what has been and what will become. The game of life.
The Farmer
In the spinning the chair tool I shared a story of a farmer and his boy.
Click here to read it.
This story serves to remind us that ultimately, we do not know what is good or bad in the grand scheme of things. Any judgement of good or bad can only ever apply within the context of the present moment; our future perspective will change as the context for evaluating the thing as good or bad then changes.
I share this again, and invite you to read the short story to set the scene for our exploration of optimism and pessimism…
The Glass
There is a glass of water on the table… Half full or half empty?
A classic and well know analogy for the description of a person’s outlook on the future.
Let me put this to you; the facts are that the total volume of the glass contains 50% liquid and 50% gaseous matter (the atmosphere).
If we analyse the facts of the situation from a non-emotional perspective this will allow us to see the honest reality of the current situation. If you settle at this point and do not expand your thinking to consider any change to the energetic state (or you could say consequence) of the glass being this full, then you would be a neutral realist. The perfect place to start when evaluating something…
The Insights
So, this tool is an exploration of optimism, pessimism and realism…
It is an invitation for you to discover the value of each of these states and identify which one you currently adopt as your default and through building this awareness, provide you with the opportunity (if needed) to make a different choice.
How does it work?
The faithful optimist is a tool of philosophical awareness, so we are going to explore the whole sliding scale of optimism and pessimism and provide you the opportunity to reflect on and integrate this knowledge to enable you to form new perspectives.
The States
From this point onwards, the definition of the states of optimism, realism and pessimism are best considered in the context of a project or a thing you need to achieve. Please think of your own examples that you can relate to as we progress through this tool; be it making a cup of tea, fixing a broken-down car, buying a house, planning a holiday or designing a new software platform…
The diagram below provides a visual overview of the scale of optimism:
The grey area represents known information about both the current situation and the next sequence of events.
The blue box at the bottom is a specific representation of the present state of reality, movement to the right heralds an increase in energy and the realisation of perceived positive outcomes, movement to the left heralds a decrease in energy and the realisation of perceived negative outcomes.
Before we get in to the states, to ensure clarity of meaning and thus communication, let’s just look at a couple of definitions:
Delusional – characterized by or holding idiosyncratic beliefs or impressions that are contradicted by reality or rational argument, typically as a symptom of mental disorder.
“their delusional belief in the project’s merits never wavers”
Irrational – not logical or reasonable.
“irrational feelings of hostility”
Now let’s dive in to the states in a bit more detail…
Neutral Realist
A neutral realist would simply consider factual information relation to the present reality and would be non-attached to any change in energetic state.
The Optimistic Realist vs. The Pessimistic Realist
Even with a foundation in realism, we can never fully predict what will happen, and some areas are more uncertain than others. In these areas of uncertainty, the mind will make predications as to what could unfold, the optimist focuses on the positive, the pessimist on the negative.
The Faithful Pessimist
Taking things one step further by projecting how “these kinds of situations play out”, “how others will behave”, or “what my luck is”, the faithful pessimist has confidence that these negative outcomes will occur.
The Irrational Pessimist
Breaking from reality, the irrational pessimist will imagine catastrophic outcomes that could lead to crippling fear preventing further action.
The Delusional Optimist
Swinging to the extreme in the opposite way, the delusional optimist can become blinded to information grounded in reality and construct a pipe dream which may never manifest. Great for inspiration and sharing the art of the possible but possibly very misleading when it comes to management of expectations.
The Faithful Optimist
The faithful optimist posture in founded in trust and respect, both for the main actor (you) and the supporting cast (everyone else).
Trusting in your and other people ability to make manifest your shared vision of success, the faithful optimist will use this vision to inspire and motivate other creating a pull effect towards the goal.
Inspiring and visionary yet grounded in reality with faith in the process.
What’s Next?
Now we have explored the postures of pessimism and optimism, in the next and final post of this series we will explore how you can leverage these to your advantage in life…
Enjoy, for now.